Assassins of Athens ak-2

by Jeffrey Siger

  'Maybe the boy wasn't supposed to die; something went wrong?'

  'Maybe. But as bizarre as it sounds, the parents' reaction wasn't complete shock at what happened to their boy. It was almost as if they knew something like that could happen, and an idea of who did it.'

  'Which brings us back to the Linardos family.'

  'Like I said, suspect number one.' Andreas stared out the window. 'Assuming a Linardos is behind this, the only way I see of proving it is working our way link-by-link up the chain from the actual killers, most likely the two gorillas with the girl.'

  Kouros nodded. 'Should we start interviewing the family members?'

  'Can't think of a better way to meet a lot of very connected lawyers. We'd need something concrete before taking on one of the most powerful families in Greece, but what the hell, let's at least take a run at the head of the family. I'll have Maggie set up an appointment for this afternoon with the grandfather, the one who runs the newspaper.'

  'Speaking of the papers, have they picked up on the murder?'

  'Don't know, I'm sure Maggie will tell us if it's out there.' Andreas tried calling her but it wouldn't go through. 'Damn it, the phone reception here is as bad as on Lykavittos.'

  'Nice language, Chief.'

  Andreas smiled. 'Never mind, we're almost at the Angel Club, we'll try again when we're finished here.' He pointed to a glitzy black-glass and steel, one-story warehouse-size building on the right. 'Pull over there, and be sure to block the front door. Let's start pissing them off.'

  Pissing off the crew at the Angel Club wasn't something most sane people did. At least not those who wanted to keep breathing. Those who ran it, not the owners on the license, came from one of the most ruthless and powerful clans in Greece. Notoriously short-tempered and proud, it took very little to set them off. But they worked hard at reining in their natural propensities for violence in order to profit off the more civilized city-folk they drew into their club. And profit they did, not just from its high cover charges and questionably formulated booze, but from drugs grown and processed back home in their hillside villages.

  Middlemen sold their brands at a premium in Amsterdam and other drug-friendly European cities, but in Greece the consumer bought directly at the Angel Club or other hot-spot clubs in their network. Their business was so long-standing and well-organized that police rarely challenged them, and almost never back in their villages, where their power, influence, manpower, and armaments often outnumbered all but the army.

  These were the guys Andreas wanted to piss off. Maggie saw from the incoming calls listed on her computer that the chief was trying to reach her. She called back but there was no answer. She had news for him on the Kostopoulos case. He wouldn't be happy. Preliminary autopsy results were back. The boy was dead by three a.m. from strangulation; the marks about his neck showed no signs of a struggle and were consistent with those on a victim trying to achieve an asphyxiation-high during intercourse; his penis was badly bruised and scraped from yet to be determined causes; and he was sodomized multiple times, by multiple partners, again with no signs of a struggle.

  The media will love this. It was all the evidence they need for endless, 'Rough Sex Night Gone Bad' headlines, and he-got-what-he-deserved slants to every story. Yes, the chief definitely wouldn't be happy. 'Who the fuck do you think you are?'

  Andreas looked at Kouros, then back at the pro wrestler-size giant standing in the vestibule of the Angel Club. He was dressed all in black, with a gold 'A' embroidered on the lapel of his jacket. Andreas pointed his left index finger at his own chest and said meekly, 'Us?'

  The gaint gestured to a slightly smaller version of himself standing just inside the club to step into the vestibule. 'These two assholes are looking for trouble.' He glared at Andreas.

  Andreas smiled and looked at Kouros. 'I guess we should introduce ourselves,' and then fixed his eyes on the giant, all the while keeping his index finger aimed at his chest. 'We're police. Yianni, please show this gentleman your credentials.'

  The giant took a step toward Andreas. 'If you're cops, get the hell around the back with the rest of the help. Only paying customers come in the front.'

  Andreas didn't move or say a word; just continued to smile and point at himself.

  The giant was two steps from Andreas. 'Asshole, if you don't get the fuck out of here, you're gonna get hurt real bad.' The second guy stepped into the vestibule and stood facing Kouros, arms crossed and glaring. Kouros didn't budge.

  The giant took another step forward and was halfway into his next when Andreas drove the heel of his left hand full-thrust up, into, and through the giant's jaw. A perfect, never-saw-it-coming knockout.

  Before the giant hit the floor Andreas had turned to face the second man, now reaching for something in his jacket pocket. 'Uhh, uh,' said Andreas, waving a finger at him. 'Play nice.'

  The guy paused, as if not sure what to do. But Kouros did. He delivered a Champions League-quality soccer shot directly to the man's balls. Two down.

  'Nice work,' said Andreas. 'Now, smile to the camera,' pointing to the security camera above the door to the club, 'show your badge,' pulling his own out from beneath his shirt so that it hung free on the cord about his neck, 'and let's make sure they get some good shots of these,' pulling a nine millimeter semiautomatic from the belt of the giant and taking from Kouros the similar one he'd removed from the jacket of the other guy.

  Andreas waved the guns in front of the camera and yelled, 'We were in mortal fear for our lives. Now get your ass down here, Giorgio!'

  Everyone knew Giorgio, at least everyone in law enforcement. He ran the place for the clan back in his village. Although Greek, he preferred the Italian version of his name. Probably would have liked to hear 'Don' in front of it too.

  Two minutes later a slight, trim, swarthy man dressed all in white appeared in the doorway. His head completely shaved, his three-day-old beard jet black. No way of telling if he was in his thirties or forties. Two more giants were with him. 'Andreas, my friend, come in. Please.'

  Andreas nodded and stepped inside. They'd tangled before. Andreas still was holding both pistols. He handed one to Kouros as he passed him and Kouros fell into step right behind him.

  All the lights were on at this hour, so that the club's faceless crew of Eastern-European workers could ready the place for the crowds of Greeks to come. In bright light there was no mystery here. The burgundy carpets and matching, bordello-style banquettes were a mash of cigarette burns, spike-heel stiletto tears, and stains from spilled drinks and God knew what else. Long, black Formica-top and metal-leg tables filled the center of the room. They were nearly as badly beaten-up as the mostly matching chairs.

  Every bit of wall space was black, except for a huge video screen that dominated the wall behind the block-long bar at the far end. The club ran nonstop ads on that screen for whatever brand of cigarettes or booze was willing to pay, filled with sounds of the hottest new music and images of nearly naked, please-fuck-me-looking young girls.

  'Here's fine,' said Andreas. They were about ten feet from the door. No reason to go any further, especially with three more all-in-black gorillas standing about twenty feet further inside.

  Giorgio smiled. 'Nice touch, setting up those two like you did.'

  'You never did much go for the brains, Georgy.' Andreas knew he hated being called Georgy.

  Giorgio stopped smiling. 'Too bad they threatened you on camera.'

  'Yeah, modern security cameras are a great boon to law enforcement.'

  'So, what the fuck do you want?' The fangs were showing.

  'Want to know about a certain lady who was in your place last night.'

  Giorgio snickered. 'That narrows things down.'

  'She was in probably between midnight and one, sat in your private area and "was the greatest piece of ass ever to walk into your place."'

  'As they say, "Beauty's in the eyes of the beholder."' He wasn't cooperating.

  'This one was al
l in red.'

  He shrugged. 'Still, don't remember.'

  'Two of your gorillas were watching out for her.'

  'Still don't know her.'

  'Would a picture of her help?'

  'No, I doubt it.' He was making clear there'd be no cooperation.

  'Well, let's see. Just to be sure. Who knows what you might remember when you have to.'

  'I won't.'

  'Good, then you won't mind showing me your tapes from last night, say, from between eleven and two?'

  'Fuck you.'

  Andreas smiled, and kept his eyes locked on Giorgio. 'Yianni, call headquarters and tell them we need someone from the prosecutor's office to get an order shutting down this shit-hole.'

  Giorgio smirked this time. 'Try.'

  'Tell him two employees of the Angel Club, armed with unlicensed semiautomatic weapons, attacked the chief of the Special Crimes Division and his partner on club premises after the officers identified themselves as police. Be sure to tell him that the entire unprovoked attack was recorded on security cameras and undoubtedly carried out on the orders of club management to interfere with this division's investigation into widespread drug trafficking on the premises.'

  Giorgio wasn't quite smiling, but still had a grin.

  'And tell whichever son-of-a-bitch prosecutor handles this that if I don't have an order signed and down here in two hours, his sorry ass is my next investigation.' Andreas smiled. 'Just in case you might be thinking you have a buddy or two out there to help you.'

  Giorgio clenched and unclenched his fists. The smile was gone.

  Shutting down the club for even a couple of nights would lose him a lot of money. Andreas was betting money was more important to Giorgio and the people he answered to than his macho hatred of Andreas.

  'Okay, asshole. This way.'

  There were eight cameras in all, some in the most unexpected of places. More than a few customers must have found themselves starring in films they never intended to make. Andreas wondered how many of Athens' rich and powerful were in Giorgio's pocket because of their, or more likely their children's, performances.

  A small security room, more accurately a closet, stood next to the bar. It was furnished with a table filled with video equipment and two chairs facing a wall of monitors. Andreas stood over Giorgio, watching him copy the tapes. There would be no accidental erasures. Kouros stood outside the room, his back to the door and his eyes on the five giants. It took about a half-hour to make the copies, and not one man said a single unnecessary word the entire time, as if doing so might send the delicate equilibrium they'd achieved into irreversible chaos.

  Andreas was anxious to see the tapes, but knew better than to do it here. He'd wait until they were back in friendlier surroundings. For now, he just verified the timelines to make sure they were getting what he wanted. He didn't want to come back a second time. Giorgio only could be pushed so far, as he made clear in his through-the-teeth-smiling goodbye to Andreas:

  'Come back soon. We'll be expecting you.' Andreas sat behind his desk staring out the window. There was nothing to see, but, then again, he wasn't looking. He wondered how long before Kouros and the lab guys came up with something on the tapes. They'd been at it for over an hour. The preliminary autopsy report confirmed what Andreas suspected. Someone went to a lot of trouble and torture to make it seem like the kid got what he was looking for. And not just to the press; to the police, too. This was made to look like the kind of case cops don't care if they ever close: one that simply fades away as an ignored, unattended file. And that bothered Andreas big time.

  How did anyone, even a Linardos, think they could murder the son of one of Greece's richest and most visible men without the police getting a shit load of pressure to solve it? Then again, he hadn't received a single pressuring call from anyone, including the boy's parents. Perhaps they're still in shock and hadn't gotten around to the angry, let'sget-the-bastards stage. He shook his head.

  On the other hand, it would take a fool of a cop, or one blithely unconcerned with his future, to press ahead with a case this explosive when no one was pushing him to do a thing. He thought of the boy's father and what must be going through that man's mind. Then he thought of his own father and the question Andreas asked himself over and over since he was eight: how different might my life have been if dad had lived, if he'd stood up to that now-dead bastard who set him up to look corrupt?

  Andreas buzzed Maggie on the intercom. 'Have you set up that appointment with Sarantis Linardos?'

  'Still waiting to hear back from his secretary. It won't be for today, though. He's in London, and she's not sure when he'd be back in Athens. Said she'd call me as soon as she knows when he's available.'

  'Yeah, like she doesn't already know. Keep on her.'

  He hung up just as Kouros burst into his office. 'Got her, Chief, and the two guys, too. Perfect shots of all of them.' He put a half-dozen photos on Andreas' desk.

  'Any more?'

  'It's all we've been able to find so far. Uhh, there is a problem, though.'

  'What is it?'

  'The camera covering the rear parking lot — its lens was painted over. From the recording timeline, it happened just before Sotiris left the club with the girl. We've got nothing after that on that camera.'

  'Not surprised. This was a professional job. It also explains why one of Sotiris' friends recalled one of the bouncers disappearing before Sotiris left the club with the girl. He must have had some painting to do.'

  'And it gives Giorgio a convenient alibi for why there's no tape of the assault.'

  Andreas picked up one of the photos showing the girl in full frontal form. 'Wow, she is hot.'

  'Tell me about it, I threatened to break the technician's head if he made an extra copy for himself.'

  'I gotta admit, if she hit on me as hard as she did on that kid, I'd probably be the one in the dumpster.'

  Kouros grinned. 'Might still be worth the risk.'

  Andreas looked at the rest of the pictures, paying particular attention to the two men. 'You recognize them?'

  Kouros gestured no with his head. 'I didn't see them at the club today.'

  'Me either.' Andreas drummed his fingers on the desk. 'It's a bit sloppy wouldn't you say?'

  'What do you mean?'

  'All this care at setting the kid up to look like he bought it in a rough sex gone bad deal, but not caring how simple it is for us to get a picture of the girl and the two guys who probably killed him?'

  'Maybe they never thought we'd get the pictures from the club, or they didn't know about the cameras?'

  Andreas shook his head no. 'And paint over the one in the parking lot? Maybe they just didn't care if we got them? After all, what we have doesn't show them doing anything to anyone. Besides, who knows where the hell they are by now.'

  'Do you think the girl's dead?'

  'Don't know. Guess we'll have to find out.'

  'How?'

  'Ask Giorgio.' Andreas smiled. 'I mean, you ask Giorgio.'

  Kouros shrugged. 'Okay.'

  Just then Maggie buzzed him. 'What is it?'

  'Uh, sorry, Chief, just wanted to know if you're taking calls.'

  'Not unless it's something urgent. I've got to catch up on everything else going on in this office.'

  'Thanks. Bye, Chief.'

  Andreas stood up and walked around the desk to where Kouros was standing. He patted him on the shoulder. 'Be careful, Yianni. Take along a blue-and-white for backup.' He paused. 'Make that two blue-and-whites.'

  'Will do, Chief,' and he left.

  Andreas held his breath for a moment, and slowly let it out. There was another potential explanation for why whoever was behind this didn't care who found out about the girl and the two muscle guys: they had friends in high places prepared to protect them. That was not an unheard of scenario in Greece, or elsewhere for that matter. Just the thought of that possibility pissed Andreas off. Really pissed him off. 'Uh, Chief?' It was Maggie's voice
over the intercom. It was the first time she'd disturbed him since just before Yianni left his office.

  'Yes?'

  'It's Yianni.'

  'Thanks, put him through.'

  She clicked off and the call came through.

  'Chief?'

  'Yes, what's up?'

  'We have an ID on the girl.'

  The first good news in a long time, thought Andreas. 'Great, who is she?'

  'Name's Anna Panitz, lives over by the university near Filis Street.'

  'That's hookerville.'

  'Yeah, Giorgio says she's a semi-pro; works a couple of legit jobs and turns tricks when pressed for money.'

  Andreas had never understood the concept of a semi-pro prostitute but, what the hell, they had an ID. 'And the two guys with her, the ones wearing Angel Club tee shirts?'

  'He didn't know them. Said they didn't work for him and anyone could get a tee shirt. They sold them at the bar for thirty euros.'

  That didn't surprise Andreas. He expected as much, or at least that Giorgio would say it. 'Why do you think that prick is suddenly so cooperative?'

  There was a very long silence on Kouros' side of the phone.

  'Yianni!'

  The reply was sharp and quick. 'I guess because of television.'

  'What are you talking about?' Andreas asked, though his gut already gave him the answer.

  'The story's everywhere. It broke before we got to the club.'

  It was pounding headache time.

  'Giorgio said he had nothing to do with what happened to the kid and would tell us anything we wanted to know. His exact words were, "I'm not fucking stupid enough to get caught up in the middle of this shit storm. It could ruin the reputation of my place. You ask, you get."'

  Great, thought Andreas. 'Did you show the photos to the club's employees?'

  'Yeah, to the ones working tonight. Just about everyone recognized the girl, she'd been in before. But no one knew the guys or ever saw them before. Thought they were private security wearing club tee shirts so not to look conspicuous. Happens all the time they said.'